Special Teams 2015 Review and Look Forward

[GTNavyNuke]

Special Teams were the best phase of our game last year at 31st by Football Outsiders FEI rankings. Offense was 88th and defense was 62nd. Here's the Special Teams data under CPJ from Football Outsiders http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/feist

http://www.mediafire.com/view/2cgsi6k127jauia/2015_ST_STE_Stats_(1)(2).jpg

2015 was our second or third best ST year under CPJ by FEI. At 3-9 overall, sure didn’t seem we were that good. And our ST (Rychleski) coach left. So we are back to 4 coaches coaching different aspects of ST with Owen as the head ST coordinator. http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/college/georgia-tech-keeping-new-special-teams-look-under-/nsDR3/

My 2016 Expectation:
i. Big improvement expected in punting and continued solid kick-offs.
ii. Our KO returns will probably remain ok.
iii. Field goals will continue to be an adventure. Need to find a replacement for Golden on punt returns.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Field Goal Kicking

• Metric: Field Goal Efficiency, the scoring value per field goal attempt earned by the field goal unit as measured against national success rates. The FEI ratings consider distance and take out trash time points which is what must have driven us up high in the rankings.
• Amazingly good at 13th overall by FEI since Butker was 7 for 11 yielding a 63.6% average. That was bad overall at 104th in the NCAA.
  • Butker’s best game was FSU where he was 3-3. He doesn’t make all those and we have a 2-10 season (1-10 against BCS opponents).
  • But the misses were in big games that really screwed us: 2 misses at ND (swirling wind) in an 8-point loss; 1 miss in 3-point loss to Pitt and 1 miss in 6-point loss to UGAg. http://www.cfbstats.com/2015/team/255/kicking/offense/gamelog.html
  • At 11 attempts all year, only 2 of the 128 NCAA D1 teams had fewer attempts all year; Army and Wyoming.
  • Butker was 44 of 45 on EP attempts with the only miss against Alcorn State.
• Future: I expect CPJ’s MO to stay the same with very few FG attempts this year since we have to keep the D off the field and the O on the field.
  • CPJ says he kicked a 60 yarder to end a practice this last week. Distance isn’t his problem. Please don’t run to the right if we are inside the 30 and the next down may be a FG attempt. Butker has had more problems from the right hash and closer in.
  • I expect more of the same inconsistency until Butker does otherwise. He was 61% in 2014.

Punt Return. Pretty good at 21st. Need replacement for Golden who averaged 10.06 yards per return and returned 16 of our 20 punt returns. The other returners (sic) averaged 7.0 yards per return …. so we don’t have a proven returner. I think we should have talent enough especially with a lot of backs healthy this year.

Our Kickoff Return. Not good at 72nd. I think our philosophy is we will be happy to take the ball at the 25 and let the offense grind. Don't lose the ball on the return. That can lose the game.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

http://www.mediafire.com/view/fubajn0dp775pd4/2015_ST_STE_Stats_(2).jpg

(I couldn't get the jpgs to come up from Media Fire ..... worked last times I tried. Oh well)

Opponent Punt Return. Dismal at 99th.

• Problem is squarely on Rodwell with a bunch of shanks and not high punts. Rodwell with a 39.33 average was 96th out of the 100 punters with enough punts to qualify. A year earlier, Rodwell was only 40.16 yards, so …..
• Shea Underwood should be the answer. I expect he will start in Ireland. Earned All-America honors from Kicking World last year as a punter. He averaged 43.6 yards as a senior. And that was with 17 of his 45 kicks being inside the 20. We are lucky to have him at all and especially as a PWO. I fully expect he’ll get a scholarship if he continues to progress. He also could be our FG kicker when Butker finishes this year. http://www.kickingworld.com/prospect/shea-underwood/

Our Kickoff Efficiency

• 16th based on an average of 63.31 yards per KO. And 11th based on % touchbacks at 66.1%.
• For some reason, the STE stat has us at 60th. I don’t understand why we aren’t better. But then I really also don’t understand why our FG is ranked so high either.
• With Butker back and stronger, this is solid and should only get better.

Opponent FG Efficiency

• STE has us at 43rd. But the FSU one is still the one we remember .
• By opponent %, we were 50th at our opponents getting 71.4%. But that was a big improvement from 115th in 2014 when opponents kicked 85.7%.

 

[iceeater1969]

Field Goal Kicking

• Metric: Field Goal Efficiency, the scoring value per field goal attempt earned by the field goal unit as measured against national success rates. The FEI ratings consider distance and take out trash time points which is what must have driven us up high in the rankings.
• Amazingly good at 13th overall by FEI since Butker was 7 for 11 yielding a 63.6% average. That was bad overall at 104th in the NCAA.
  • Butker’s best game was FSU where he was 3-3. He doesn’t make all those and we have a 2-10 season (1-10 against BCS opponents).
  • But the misses were in big games that really screwed us: 2 misses at ND (swirling wind) in an 8-point loss; 1 miss in 3-point loss to Pitt and 1 miss in 6-point loss to UGAg. http://www.cfbstats.com/2015/team/255/kicking/offense/gamelog.html
  • At 11 attempts all year, only 2 of the 128 NCAA D1 teams had fewer attempts all year; Army and Wyoming.
  • Butker was 44 of 45 on EP attempts with the only miss against Alcorn State.
• Future: I expect CPJ’s MO to stay the same with very few FG attempts this year since we have to keep the D off the field and the O on the field.
  • CPJ says he kicked a 60 yarder to end a practice this last week. Distance isn’t his problem. Please don’t run to the right if we are inside the 30 and the next down may be a FG attempt. Butker has had more problems from the right hash and closer in.
  • I expect more of the same inconsistency until Butker does otherwise. He was 61% in 2014.

Punt Return. Pretty good at 21st. Need replacement for Golden who averaged 10.06 yards per return and returned 16 of our 20 punt returns. The other returners (sic) averaged 7.0 yards per return …. so we don’t have a proven returner. I think we should have talent enough especially with a lot of backs healthy this year.

Our Kickoff Return. Not good at 72nd. I think our philosophy is we will be happy to take the ball at the 25 and let the offense grind. Don't lose the ball on the return. That can lose the game.

Sitting at field level watching golden, it was clear you are right. He mad ed sure to be centered for the catch, nevsr pwaked to see whose coming , took a auick cut and readied for hit.
We were almost always backed up receiving punts. Wonder were we rank at yard line where punt received? To me u cant win the big games doing that.
Ps
Thanks for info.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I don't think our strategy was to sandbag on returns in order to set up long drives ("grind it out"). It makes no sense for many reasons, but mainly because it allows more opportunity for drive ending mistakes to occur. We just stunk at it, imo.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Hot damn, I got the jpgs to work this morning ..... for DCS post see far right columns:

I don't think our strategy was to sandbag on returns in order to set up long drives ("grind it out"). It makes no sense for many reasons, but mainly because it allows more opportunity for drive ending mistakes to occur. We just stunk at it, imo.

It's not really sandbagging, but more a philosophy that if the ball is 2 yards deep in the end zone, take the TB. Don't risk a turnover since our strength is ball control and tiring out / unnerving the other team. Our best defense is keeping the defense off the field.

I agree that we stink at KO returns. The best under CPJ has been 50th. And he has tried different things including a dedicated special teams coach. Isn't that because we don't have the depth of athletes? That's what I think; we don't recruit as good of athletes in the 1-85 spots. The KO return team usually doesn't have many of the starters on O or D and we don't have the depth and it shows when we do these less scripted plays. And I have no problem with this prioritization since getting the ball at the 25 is pretty good. If we just had a better punter for when we don't score then this would be even less of a concern.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

And here is the second jpg with the rest of the stats:

 

[AE 87]

Our last three years with dedicated special teams coaches stand out in overall ranking compared to previous years.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Our last three years with dedicated special teams coaches stand out in overall ranking compared to previous years.

Yup, so you also noticed that we got rid of our special teams coach even though last year was our second best year statistically under CPJ. And the ST were the best phase of our game.

Those are facts. But I don't have problem with what CPJ did to go back to four coaches sharing the duties since the different phases of ST are so different (FG kicking very different than KO return).

We may find out this year how much of the ST improvement with a ST coach was due to the coach and how much was due to playing more starters on ST. I think it was about three years ago that we began using more starters. One thing I don't think anyone can factually say is that Rychleski was forced to leave because of ST performance. (And I don't think you are saying that.)

 

[furant]

http://www.mediafire.com/view/fubajn0dp775pd4/2015_ST_STE_Stats_(2).jpg

(I couldn't get the jpgs to come up from Media Fire ..... worked last times I tried. Oh well)

Opponent Punt Return. Dismal at 99th.

• Problem is squarely on Rodwell with a bunch of shanks and not high punts. Rodwell with a 39.33 average was 96th out of the 100 punters with enough punts to qualify. A year earlier, Rodwell was only 40.16 yards, so …..
• Shea Underwood should be the answer. I expect he will start in Ireland. Earned All-America honors from Kicking World last year as a punter. He averaged 43.6 yards as a senior. And that was with 17 of his 45 kicks being inside the 20. We are lucky to have him at all and especially as a PWO. I fully expect he’ll get a scholarship if he continues to progress. He also could be our FG kicker when Butker finishes this year. http://www.kickingworld.com/prospect/shea-underwood/

Our Kickoff Efficiency

• 16th based on an average of 63.31 yards per KO. And 11th based on % touchbacks at 66.1%.
• For some reason, the STE stat has us at 60th. I don’t understand why we aren’t better. But then I really also don’t understand why our FG is ranked so high either.
• With Butker back and stronger, this is solid and should only get better.

Opponent FG Efficiency

• STE has us at 43rd. But the FSU one is still the one we remember .
• By opponent %, we were 50th at our opponents getting 71.4%. But that was a big improvement from 115th in 2014 when opponents kicked 85.7%.

I agree with your assessment and hope Underwood does progress but with my gold glasses and Kool-aid in hand I have big visions for what Harvin and Bulovas will be able to do next year in their true freshman years and beyond.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

I had to refresh my memory (makes things so much more interesting when you can learn them over and over).

I have to think that one of them will go somewhere else. But maybe not since kickers are usually PWOs and both have (deserved) scholarships. Like one of the articles says, kickers are like lawyers, you don't want them until you need them. Then you really want them.

Think both will be at GT next year if Underwood does well? Someone would get red shirted if both show up and Underwood is starting at punting.

Joseph Bulovas:
2 star from Scout, but http://www.scout.com/player/207013-joseph-bulovas?s=73
Bulovas is also rated the No. 2 kicking prospect nationally by Chris Sailer Kicking, https://chrissailerkicking.com/player-rankings/profile?player=6409
http://247sports.com/Player/Joseph-Bulovas-90269

Pressley Harvin:
http://www.fromtherumbleseat.com/ge...n-iii-commitment-commit-punting-winning-punts
2 star from Scout - but #1 punter in nation by some kicking serivces? http://www.scout.com/player/205916-pressley-harvin-iii/news?year=2016&s=73
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/4442026/pressley-harvin-iii

 

[g0lftime]

Any player that can put points on the board and can win games as time expires should be a priority recruit and offerred a scholarship. Using PWO's is risky. The commits for punter and kicker for next year are impressive. I hope they honor their commitments.

 

[Dustman]

I'm guessing the kickoff efficiency is based on opponents starting field position. A really good kickoff team will kick high and deep and pin you inside the 25. we get a ton of touchbacks with Butker and I don't hold my breath on kickoffs like I did before he got here, but it seems to me when there is a return it comes out between the 25 and 30. Just my observation, no supporting data.

 

[AE 87]

I'm guessing the kickoff efficiency is based on opponents starting field position. A really good kickoff team will kick high and deep and pin you inside the 25. we get a ton of touchbacks with Butker and I don't hold my breath on kickoffs like I did before he got here, but it seems to me when there is a return it comes out between the 25 and 30. Just my observation, no supporting data.

Good call. We faced 19 returns of 62 kickoffs, and the returns averaged over 23 yds, #100.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Good call. We faced 19 returns of 62 kickoffs, and the returns averaged over 23 yds, #100.

Eh, if it's under 25, I'm happy. If we had 100% touchbacks, the average would be even worse but I'd be more thrilled.

 

[AE 87]

Eh, if it's under 25, I'm happy. If we had 100% touchbacks, the average would be even worse but I'd be more thrilled.

That's the average. That means for every return of 2yds, there was a return of 44 yds. Opponents only fair caught (not touchback) twice. We should have had several stops for little gains on return. So an average that high suggests we gave up several big returns.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

That's the average. That means for every return of 2yds, there was a return of 44 yds. Opponents only fair caught (not touchback) twice. We should have had several stops for little gains on return. So an average that high suggests we gave up several big returns.

I know what the word average means. By your logic we had just as many big stops as big returns allowed.

By the way I'm talking about kickoffs only not punts. Not sure why you brought up fair catches.

 

[Dustman]

Eh, if it's under 25, I'm happy. If we had 100% touchbacks, the average would be even worse but I'd be more thrilled.

Depends on where the return starts though. They aren't all starting at the goal line. Touchbacks probably aren't figured into that 23 yd average. The efficiency rating is probably based on starting field position. Kickoffs were a wild adventure before Butker arrived. I'm not saying we are terrible on kickoff coverage, just trying to explain why 59 teams are better according to this metric.

 

[Dustman]

I know what the word average means. By your logic we had just as many big stops as big returns allowed.

By the way I'm talking about kickoffs only not punts. Not sure why you brought up fair catches.

Kick it high to the up man and you'll get some fair catches on kickoffs too.

 

[AE 87]

I know what the word average means. By your logic we had just as many big stops as big returns allowed.

By the way I'm talking about kickoffs only not punts. Not sure why you brought up fair catches.

Yes. We are talking about kickoffs. We had 62 in 2015, with 41 touchbacks and 19 returns. The reason I mentioned the 2 not counted is that we are basically talking about, as expected, all non-touchbacks as returns.

The reason I mentioned average was not to insult your understanding of its definition but highlight why only 10 teams allowed more than 25 yds ave KR.